Atlas

I yearn not, for the opportunity to lay down the burden, but for the wisdom to be able to bear it lightly and gracefully.

Boredom

I am so bored. I have to accept that I am not learning or growing any more.

It is time for a change, for sure.

Liminality

As the storm passes, I have decided to pull in the sails and drop anchor in the safety of a cove. It is time to fix the compass and re-draw the maps.

Firing

Yes, I could feel the neurons firing! At last!
Back in business.

Lift-off

An inkling that the wheels are slowly turning again, and the period of rest is over. September - here we come!

Breach

Yesterday, I reached the brink. I forgot to listen to my body and it made sure that I heard - loud and clear.

215/110 - numbers that will remain etched forever. A gross miscalculation. The last time was on a dark, rural highway in the Philippines 13 years ago. A near-miss.

Now, for the long, winding road back. On the mend.

Lightning McQueen

Lightning McQueen somehow best represents how I feel right now - deflated.

After all that hustling, it has come down to having not hustled enough.
With that, the possibility that something I love doing is about to be taken away from me.

As Warren Buffett says, "you only find out who is swimming naked, when the tide goes down!"
And as my little brother reminds me, we only just need to consider the fortunes of Deng Xiaoping and Hillary Clinton.

Where to from here?

Flight

Singapore-Bangkok-Tokyo-Bangkok-Singapore-Manila-Bangkok-Singapore-Bangkok-Jakarta-Singapore

All in the space of 12 days.

Plenty

2017 starts from a point of plenty.

A loved husband and a loving father of two treasures. 

A professional journey ahead that will demand everything. 

A simple resolve to treat the body as the temple of the mind, the soul and the spirit. 

Friends who will, for example, spend New Year's Eve building my jigsaw puzzle with me. 

Of books, photos, toy trains, music, black tea and white wines.

A year of love, happiness, contentment, adventure and connection. 

Forward

I can say I am truly happy.

To have survived last year.
To have so much to look back at and look forward to.
To be doing this for work.

Here is a chance to set myself up to fail spectacularly.
I hope I take it, for there will still be so much happiness left.

Forward. 

Two

Six weeks two days. Size of a blueberry. Heart already beating - 119 times per minute.

The advent of Number Two makes me wonder how we will ever be able split our love for Number One.

Happiness!

Sleep

is what I have been missing.

And, time.

False alarm

Surprisingly, it feels like I am healing.

Let us wait and watch.

Graduation

Three wonderful years finally come to an end. I want to cry.

It is time to face the unknown.

The real irony is that my first full weekend of work will happen immediately after I decide to step out.

Bonus

Three years done. Kicking and screaming.
50% more than the original aspiration.
Where to from here? Time to graduate?

Disbelief

No sacred cows.
Even the Economist has been put on the row.
Refreshing.
Finally, I went for a swim today. Right after a workout at the gym.
Thanks! Arnold Bennett.

Liberation

A clean slate - shredded the To-Do list. And, many other wishlists.
No more constant, suffocating frustration about the hundred irrelevant things that never got done.
Truly liberating - less is more, nothing is everything.

To a year of contemplation, renewal, focus, action and enjoyment.

Unwrapped

The last few years have all been so full of excitement - one does not know what to expect of 2015.

Perhaps it's time for the steady, quiet maturity akin to the Classic Milk flavor from Haagen Dazs. So new, yet so old.

Crisis

This one is.

Exit

I can sense my exit from this tollway coming up.

It does feel like it will be the wine route for me.

Now, how do we make that work?